How did you go about cleaning the distributor boot? It still looks brown, I have cleaned at least two like that and gotten the brown off. I used white wall cleaner back then, now Purple Power is my cheap alternative all purpose cleaner. Those seem to have a film on them which doesn't come clean without some kind of harsh cleaner.

The boot has never been off of the car. I ~did~ replace the alternator fan guard as I've done a few 3G's and had an extra, besides, I like the OEM look over a painted or wire wheeled guard, and I ~did~ use steel wool wetted with Armorall on the intake as there was some flash corrosion, (it is raw, unpainted aluminum) but outside of that, pretty much just sprayed the hot engine with Windex, slammed the hood for 20 minutes, rinsed it off with water and re-started the engine until it was dry; doused the engine with Armorall and slammed the hood for another 20 minutes to bake, then wiped everything down with a clean, dry towel.

I do all of my cars this way, unless I bought a greaseball, then I pull out the pressure washer first, then do the Windex/Armorall thing. They stay real nice and it's easy to do. This is a process that OneWayStreet (Rick Ekenrode) wrote about in the March-April 2007 Club newsletter.

I've been using his method ever since.

Today, I pulled the radiator "hold down" brackets and sprayed them with a couple of coats of black trim spray then used a lacquer thinner moistened rag on the OEM under-hood stickers. I'm pretty much done now.

I don't even have one on this car, it came off when I did the cap/rotor a few years back. I meant to put it back on, now I'm not sure where it's at. I see one every once in a while, and I'll be digging into my old spare parts soon.

oldschool1 wrote:Fred,He's got what we call "mad surface rust" going in in that bay!

Rick (OneWayStreet) has a fantastic method of cleaning away dirt and dust and grime and grease.

Surface rust needs a different chemical that is not compatible with detailing products.

One step at a time and it'll look Maaarvelous.

Try Eastwood's Rust Dissolver for surface rust. It can be sprayed on anything basically. It does not interfere with painting/prep, or eat paint, or damage rubber etc. It is the best, it's almost clear, it's like water, and it thus "creeps"(wicks) into seams. You cannot kill rust that is deep inside of body seams, like the bottom edge of doors, but for anything else it takes care of rust.

oldschool1 wrote:Fred,He's got what we call "mad surface rust" going in in that bay!

Rick (OneWayStreet) has a fantastic method of cleaning away dirt and dust and grime and grease.

Surface rust needs a different chemical that is not compatible with detailing products.

One step at a time and it'll look Maaarvelous.

Try Eastwood's Rust Dissolver for surface rust. It can be sprayed on anything basically. It does not interfere with painting/prep, or eat paint, or damage rubber etc. It is the best, it's almost clear, it's like water, and it thus "creeps"(wicks) into seams. You cannot kill rust that is deep inside of body seams, like the bottom edge of doors, but for anything else it takes care of rust.

Cool. I'll have to give that stuff a try. I'm going to do more work cleaning the engine bay in the spring when it's warm (well that's a bit silly today as it was 65*, on December 2). Paint dries better as I don't have a heated garage, so it's also a bit uncomfortable to work in the cold weather.

What do you guys usually use for a paint match to the factory black under the hood? I've been using Rustoleum satin black paint for A/C lines and what not and it seems to be a good match.

Cool Art, that's the best looking Chevy engine I've seen. I don't like the ugly orange, like the Ford blue's haven't been good either.

For engine bay color, you might try the factory body color, and make it satin finished. I did that unexpectedly in my 99 Explorer because the cold of the night dulled the finish. It ended up looking just right, though I did go back and do the radiator support again later.

CDW6212R wrote:Cool Art, that's the best looking Chevy engine I've seen. I don't like the ugly orange, like the Ford blue's haven't been good either.

For engine bay color, you might try the factory body color, and make it satin finished. I did that unexpectedly in my 99 Explorer because the cold of the night dulled the finish. It ended up looking just right, though I did go back and do the radiator support again later.

The factory engine bay color is just the exterior color minus the clear coat, so it is basically a satin finish.

I do like Ford blue. The engine on my T-bird is painted that color. I don't think I'll go that direction in the Mark yet. The engine was out of the T-bird so I figured why not paint it Ford blue